When we think of data centers, we tend to think of large, open rooms full of featureless racks. But many data centers break the mold and utilize truly creative designs, layouts, and locations.

These unusual data centers are not vanity projects, but creative responses to some of the challenges that technology has presented.

As concerns about information security and continuity grow, businesses need data centers to be increasingly resilient against physical attacks and natural disasters. That has led to some data centers being housed in unusual locations, making the best use of the natural environment to shore up their security.

In Norway, the Green Mountain data center is located in a disused ammo store on an island, embedded into the rock of the mountain. In the Netherlands, the CyberBunker is located in an ex-nuclear bunker, giving customers similar security to that enjoyed by its previous owners, NATO.

There’s another good reason to use natural resources creatively in data center construction. Green power, and inventive use of water and air, all help to cut energy use. In 2014, the data centers in the United States used around 2% of the country’s power, making data centers one of the world’s biggest drains on the grid. To reduce this, data center developers are starting to work with nature, not against it.

For example, cool water from natural sources can be used in place of air conditioning. It can be transported using gravity, rather than electric pumps. The water can then be used to cool equipment or used in place of traditional air conditioning. Elements of these technologies are used in Roubaix in France.

Water can also be used to generate power for data centers, as is the case with Yahoo’s Computing Coops in New York. The electricity that powers its servers is generated by nearby Niagara Falls.

In Germany, Cloud&Heat recycles the heat generated by servers to warm both air and water in neighboring buildings. This technology offers a glimpse into an interesting solution where the heat generated by a data center is put to use to save power elsewhere.

The World’s Most Creative (and Bizarre) Data centers

As data privacy becomes increasingly important, data centers are being placed in incredibly unique locations in order to make them as secure, energy efficient, and effective as possible. Here are some of the world’s most unusual data centers:

The Former NATO Ammunition Storehouse

Green Mountain – DC1-Stavanger – Norway

It has 146,389 square feet (13,600 m²) of available space

This high-security data center has been converted out of a former NATO ammunition storehouse, which is located on a small island in Norway

There are two main buildings that are built from concrete and are three stories high — both of these are built into the mountain

A cooling source is provided by a nearby fjord, where, at a depth of 75 m and below, the water remains at a stable 46°F(8°C)

The system takes water from a depth of 100 m to water basins at 5 m

This is done without any outside power, using only the gravity-produced pressure difference

This cool water is then pumped from the basins to the heat exchangers

This allows the data center to use just 3.5 kW of power for the pumps for every 1,000 kW of cooling

As the facility is airtight

The atmosphere is 21% oxygen

Sustained fires require an oxygen level of 16% or higher

As a result, the facility is kept at an oxygen level of 15%

This effectively eliminates the potential for fire.

It also removes the risk of corrosion damage from fire suppressing chemicals

Due to the fact the data center is covered by 100 m of granite, it is secure from electromagnetic pulses (EMP), which can destroy or disrupt electronic equipment

The Data Center Without Air Conditioning

OVH – Roubaix 4 – France

The building has capacity for 35,000 servers

It provides up to 10 Gbps per server

Roubaix use no traditional air conditioning

This is accomplished in two ways:

First, the data center is built in a specific way

It is a cube with a hollow core

This provides greatly increased ventilation, keeping to entire building cool

Second, the servers themselves are water-cooled with OVH’s own system.

Since air conditioning is one of the biggest uses of energy in data center, Roubaix’s special design reduces energy cost by half while still providing optimal performance

These innovations have been developed in-house

Combined with OVH’s total control over all aspects of the data center and servers, allows them to provide real-time solutions to any potential problems

The Chicken Coop with a Living Wall

Yahoo! – Computing Coops – New York

Yahoo! First established their “chicken coop” idea for a data center in 2010 before building their second in 2016

Each building is 120 x 60 foot

To reduce the costs involved in cooling a data center, Yahoo! adopted the style of a chicken coop

Using the same thin, long designs of these types of buildings, they also have chimneys (vents) on the top which are used to circulate the air to keep the servers cool

This provides natural cooling 99% of the time

The other 1% of the time uses a direct evaporative cooling system

Used when the weather’s humid or hot

Hydroelectric power is used to run the facility

This is sourced from Niagara Falls, which is located near to the site

Overall, the data centers aim to use 95% less water and 40% less electricity than standard data centers of the same size

To put this into perspective, for a year’s worth of savings:

300,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs could be lit up by this for a year

200,000 people could be provided with drinking water for a year

Yahoo has continued to expand on the success of their chicken coop design, and has even incorporated a living wall into the latest one

Located outside the data center, the wall has been created to welcome visitors and staff into the building

It also adds a bold message about Yahoo!’s commitment to being as eco-friendly as possible

Nine varieties of sedum have been used to create the design, providing four seasons of texture, color, and interest

The Nuclear Bunker

CyberBunker – The Netherlands

It was originally built in 1955 during the Cold War to house sensitive electronic equipment and was designed to operate efficiently for 10 years, even if it was cut off from the outside world

In 1996, it was decommissioned and a Dutch entrepreneur purchased it before renovating it into the data center it is today

Located in a decommissioned NATO nuclear bunker that’s above ground, the CyberBunker is a data center that’s proven to be impenetrable in many ways

Despite a number disputes (due to some of the controversial customers the CyberBunker serves) and several attempts to forcibly enter the bunker, the police and authorities have been unsuccessful at gaining access to the data center

And each time CyberBunker has been taken to a court of law, it has come out victorious

For example, the Goes City Hall accused CyberBunker of operating an electric motor that could draw more than 1.5kW without having obtained a permit

CyberBunker won the case and City Hall had to pay their court charges

Then, in 2007, after trying to gain forceful entry (unsuccessfully) into the CyberBunker, City Hall ended up paying out €24,500 in damages after no illegal activities were discovered

Since then, City Hall has ceased its efforts to try and get CyberBunker shut down

The Data Center that Doubles as a Radiator

Cloud&Heat – Germany

This is a unique data center because of its usage

Cloud&Heat has redesigned the traditional data center to create a cabinet that reduces cooling costs in two ways:

First, its cooling system is efficient and uses less energy

Second, it reuses the heat it produces

The heat generated by the servers can be used to heat air and water in commercial and personal buildings

And, the workloads can be assigned to the location that needs the most energy

For example, if it was colder in Bonn than Stuttgart, systems in Bonn would receive a higher workload to generate much-needed heat in these premises

Even though this is only available in Germany, at present, it does provide a lot of scope for the future with the possibility of entire homes being heated by server-style radiators!

The Raspberry Pi Data Center

PCextreme – The Netherlands

PCextreme isn’t unique so much in what it is but in the technology that it supports

These have been designed to accommodate roughly 150 Raspberry Pis per rack

Compared to midrange servers which use around 75-150 watts, these use 3-5 watts, making them much more efficient than using servers where “full” computers aren’t required

The Largest, Most Advanced Data Center

Switch – Tahoe Reno – Nevada

Designed to offer data center space of up to 7.2 million square feet (670,000 m2), with up to 650MW of power

Situated on 2,000 acres, this data center is powered solely by renewable energy

The roof decks have been designed to withstand winds of up to 200 mph

The first building (Tahoe Reno 1) offers data center space which spans over 1.3 million square feet (120,000 m2), which makes it the largest single data space in the world

This is the first two of 12 sectors that are planned at the center

Some of the clients who are using this facility include Renown Health and eBay

The data centers are connected to the SUPERLOOP, which is operated by Switch

This is a fiber optic network that runs 500 miles, connecting the data center with Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the company’s other data center in Las Vegas, which is 2.5 million square feet (230,000 m2)

This provides very low latencies:

Los Angeles: 9-milliseconds

San Francisco: 4-milliseconds

Las Vegas: 7-milliseconds

In the last two years, 90% of the world’s data was created, which demonstrates just how fast the Internet is growing. With a need to store all of this data somewhere, who knows what innovative places the next data centers will be established in!